Third-party funded project

Resolving Local Energy conflicts and Promoting Public Interests with new Modes of Organisation in the Energy Sector (EnerLOG)

Research Department: Institutional Change and Regional Public Goods

IRS Research Topic: Forms and Implications of Spatial Governance New Social Practices

Project Leader within IRS: Dr. Matthias Naumann

Project Team: Sören Becker Andrea Bues

Consortium: Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (Coordination) ZukunftsAgentur Brandenburg Local Governments for Sustainability

Funding Organization: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

Duration: 08/2013 - 10/2016

The local level is central for implementing the German energy transition (Energiewende) and resolving numerous energy conflicts. This means that municipalities have to make decisions and take action in a wide range of fields pertaining to energy provision and use. As yet there exists hardly any systematically analysed empirical evidence of options for action and conflict resolution for local processes of restructuring energy systems. The research project “EnerLOG – Resolving local energy conflicts and promoting public interests with new modes of organisation in the energy sector” aimed to fill this gap. EnerLOG analysed experiences with, and prospects for, three emergent organisational forms of the Energiewende: re-municipalisation, energy cooperatives and bioenergy villages and related new modes of governance. The decision for particular modes of organising energy supply is linked to questions of social, ecological and economic objectives, framed in terms of public interests.

The project purported that promoting public interests via novel organisational forms offers an opportunity to resolve various local energy conflicts. The project aspired to provide the empirical and conceptual foundation with which to assess the role of emergent organisations in local energy governance, the importance of (diverse) public interests in local energy debates and how both can help address local energy conflicts. Starting from the analysis of local solutions and exploring the transferability of experiences between different local communities, it developed together with its partners a best practice guide for dealing with local energy conflicts and promoting public interests in local energy supply. The results are summarised in a compendium for practitioners and made available to the interested public.

Foto: © Coloures-pic/fotolia.de; © FHgitarre/flickr.com

Publications

Becker, S., & Naumann, M. Energiekonflikte nutzen: Wie die Energiewende vor Ort gelingen kann

Naumann, M., & Wissen, M. (2016). Editorial: Energiekämpfe: Interessen, Kräfteverhältnisse und Perspektiven. Prokla, (184), 336-342.

Becker, S., Bues, A., & Naumann, M. (2016). Zur Analyse lokaler energiepolitischer Konflikte: Skizze eines Analysewerkzeugs. Raumforschung und Raumordnung, 74(1), 39-49. DOI: 10.1007/s13147-016-0380-0

Becker, S., Naumann, M., & Moss, T. (2017). Between Coproduction and Commons: Understanding Initiatives to Reclaim Urban Energy Provision in Berlin and Hamburg. Urban Research & Practice, 10(1), 63-85. DOI: 10.1080/17535069.2016.1156735

Naumann, M. (2014). Privatisierung. In B. Belina, M. Naumann, & A. Strüver (Eds.), Handbuch Kritische Stadtgeographie (pp. 223-228). Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.

Becker, S., Beveridge, R., & Naumann, M. (2015). Remunicipalization in German Cities: Contesting Neo-Liberalism and Reimagining Urban Governance? Space and Polity, 19(1), 76-90. DOI: 10.1080/13562576.2014.991119

Becker, S., Blanchet, T., & Kunze, C. (2016). Social Movements and Urban Energy Policy: Assessing Contexts, Agency and Outcomes of Remunicipalisation Processes in Hamburg and Berlin. Utilities Policy, 41, 228-236. DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2016.02.001

Becker, S., Kouschil, K., & Naumann, M. (2014). Armut und Infrastruktur: das Beispiel Energiearmut. Geographische Rundschau, 66(10), 10-17.

Moss, T., Becker, S., & Naumann, M. (2015). Whose Energy Transition Is It, Anyway? Organisation and Ownership of the Energiewende in Villages, Cities and Regions. Local Environment, 20(12), 1547-1563. DOI: 10.1080/13549839.2014.915799

Becker, S., & Naumann, M. (2017). Rescaling Energy? Räumliche Neuordnungen in der deutschen Energiewende. Geographica Helvetica, 72, 329-339. DOI: 10.5194/gh-72-329-2017

Becker, S., Beveridge, R., & Naumann, M. (2015). Reconfiguring Energy Provision in Berlin: Commoning between Compromise and Contestation. In M. Dellenbaugh, M. Kip, M. Bieniok, A. K. Müller, & M. Schwegmann (Eds.), Urban Commons: Moving Beyond State and Market (pp. 196-213). (Bauwelt Fundamente; No. 154). Basel: Birkhäuser. DOI: 10.1515/9783038214953-013

Becker, S. (2014). Energy Justice: Kritisch-geographische Perspektiven auf die Energiewende. Berichte / Deutsche Akademie für Landeskunde e.V. , 88(3/4), 387-398.

Beveridge, R., & Naumann, M. (2016). Contesting Neoliberalism in an ‘Activist City’: Working towards the Urban Commons in Berlin. Soundings, (64), 88-93.

Beveridge, R., & Naumann, M. (2017). Für ein Recht auf Intrastruktur! Stadtpolitische Konflikte um die Energie- und Wasserversorgung in Berlin. In M. Flitner, J. Lossau, & A-L. Müller (Eds.), Infrastrukturen der Stadt (pp. 67-88). Wiesbaden: Springer VS. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-658-10424-5

Downloads

Becker, S., & Naumann, M. (2016). Energiekonflikte nutzen: Wie die Energiewende vor Ort gelingen kann. Erkner: Leibniz-Institut für Raumbezogene Sozialforschung.